While holidaying in France, President Bola Tinubu’s government has dismissed claims of widespread hunger in Nigeria as “misleading,” blaming the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for many of the problems the country is currently facing.

Bayo Onanuga, spokesperson for the president, made this statement on Monday in response to criticisms from opposition politician and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

Mr Atiku and other opposition politicians’ “claim that hunger is ravaging Nigeria, and their comparison of our situation to the unrest in France before the 1789 Revolution or the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, is grossly misleading,” Mr Onanuga said.

The presidential aide went further, blaming economic hardship, insecurity, and poverty on the government in which Mr Abubakar served as vice president, while lauding Mr Tinubu.

“Nigeria is moving in the right direction. In contrast, Atiku and his party remain stuck in the past, fixated on doomsday scenarios and revolutionary rhetoric. Ironically, many of the challenges we face today stem from the economic mismanagement during the PDP years, when Atiku was Vice President. President Tinubu and his team are working relentlessly to correct those errors, with bold reforms,” Mr Onanuga said.

According to Mr Onanuga, Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves are on the rise, now approaching $42 billion. When President Tinubu assumed office, reserves stood at $32 billion, much of it encumbered. This administration has since cleared over $7 billion in arrears, including $800 million owed to airlines.

He added, “Under President Tinubu, Nigeria is recording unprecedented revenues. States are now able to pay salaries and gratuities promptly and still have surplus funds for capital and social projects—an achievement not previously witnessed at this scale.”

Lauding inflation’s decline to 20 per cent based on a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report, Mr Onanuga said, “After just two years and five months in office, we are proud of the progress being made under President Tinubu’s leadership. Atiku and his allies may choose to ignore these gains, but Nigerians can see and feel the positive changes taking place across the nation.”

However, under Mr Tinubu’s watch, Nigerians have witnessed an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis, with inflation at 20 per cent—down from 33 per cent after a rebasing of the economy—while petrol pump prices range between N890 and N900.

In May, the International Monetary Fund lauded Mr Tinubu’s policies but insisted that poverty and food insecurity remain high in the country.

Similarly, the World Bank’s Africa Pulse report of April 2025 stated that Nigeria, under Mr Tinubu, has the highest number of extremely poor people globally.

The report also predicted a grim future for Nigeria, warning that many more citizens will be plunged into poverty by 2027 under Mr Tinubu’s watch.